NEWS

A fortnight on, no respite in sight from smoke at Ghazipur landfill

Lata rushes towards the stinking heap of
garbage as soon as the dumper pulls away. Anything the 19-year-old can salvage
from the trash before the waiting yellow bulldozer flattens it into a man-made
hill will add to her day's earnings. The dumper's load -refuse from somewhere
in east Delhi -is a tiny fraction of the 2,500-odd tonnes of garbage that
arrives at the Ghazipur landfill every day. While Lata and a dozen other
ragpickers sift through the trash, eagles hover high above and dogs trot about
the smoking hill for food. Although the stench is unbearable and the clouds of
smoke make the lungs burn, Lata says she has spent "enough time there not
to care about it any more".